JIMI HENDRIX Litigation Results In Contempt Order, Judgment Payment

Experience Hendrix, L.L.C., the Hendrix family music company which owns and administers the Jimi Hendrix music rights, has issued the following press release:

Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. recently obtained a stipulated court order of almost $900,000 against music entrepreneur Ed Chalpin. The payment to Experience Hendrix was the culmination of a 2006 lawsuit commenced in New York against Chalpin and two of his related companies. During the course of this litigation Federal District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who described Chalpin as "a singularly uncredible witness," held Chalpin in contempt of court.

The case dates back to a 2001 lawsuit in the UK High Court by Experience Hendrix against Chalpin and his PPX Enterprises to enforce a 1973 consent decree, which limited Chalpin's rights in Hendrix recordings to 33 masters largely recorded in 1965 when Hendrix was an unknown backing guitarist for the R&B combo CURTIS KNIGHT & THE SQUIRES. In 2003 the UK court ruled in favor of Experience Hendrix, requiring that Chalpin and PPX make royalty payments for the PPX/Curtis Knight master recordings to Experience Hendrix, as successor to the Jimi Hendrix estate. That case resulted in an award of £304,173 to Experience Hendrix that was not paid. Later in 2003, a New York State Court upheld the UK court's decision and held that Chalpin owed Experience Hendrix $725,868, the UK judgment expressed as a dollar amount. For several years Chalpin ignored both judgments and made no payment.

In 2006, Chalpin offered the 33 Hendrix masters at an auction held by the company Ocean Tomo, through a different PPX company that was not subject to the prior judgments. Experience Hendrix sued him for fraudulent conveyance, since judgment debtor PPX Enterprises had originally owned the 33 masters. Judge Kaplan immediately enjoined Chalpin from disposing of these assets. The judge noted, "Mr. Chalpin was engaged in a game of three card Monte with his creditors. He was moving the pea from one walnut shell to another." In February 2007, Chalpin was held in contempt of court by Judge Kaplan, and shortly thereafter Chalpin finally agreed to a litigation settlement under which he paid the full amount of the judgment debt as well an amount close to the total accrued interest since 2003.

Chalpin's attorney had complained that Experience Hendrix' actions and statements had devalued the Hendrix properties that he offered for sale, and that those actions had scared off prospective bidders. The Judge responded by stating, "That is like saying because you decided to hold an auction on the steps of the courthouse in which Mr. Chalpin is going to sell the George Washington Bridge, the lack of bids would mean it has no value. The lack of bids would mean that somebody understands that the Port Authority owns it."